My one true love
by Cossacks250
Summary: This is just a quickie on Rapunzel and Eugene out on Corona's lake on the day of romance. Enjoy!


**Note: I do not own Tangled, but the song I have included in this Fanfic is mine. **

If there was one thing that most people do not like about winter, it is the cold weather that the season brings with it. A light but freezing cold wind blew through the air, the water was like ice, even the air itself just seemed to emanate cold from it. People had been shivering like mad and there had even, at one point, been the occasional bit of snow falling, though it did not set.

However, there was one thing good thing that was coming out of all this cold. The sky, for the most part, had remained completely clear, giving those on the ground an amazing view of the blackness of the night filled with thousands upon thousands of stars that shone and twinkled brightly like little lamps. It always looked so peaceful and always seemed to cheer anyone up if they were angry or sad or just needed a little cheering up.

At the moment now in the kingdom of Corona, it was coming close to the end of the evening as far off to the east, the blackness of the night was beginning to creep in, soon to bring with it another amazing display of the stars. Even though there was a little light left from the day, which was starting to ebb away to the west, lights had already been turned on in the windows of the castle and the houses and shops and such in Corona, and also from the special lanterns along the sides of houses and above the streets and even in the windows of buildings in the kingdom, to light up the darkness for when it arrived, the combined colour of the yellow/orange light from the candles and the red from the special lanterns around the kingdom making the light coming from it a kind of gold colour. Most people by now were at home, either eating dinner, or relaxing by the fire or doing any last minute work around their house before they retired for the night.

One of those people, though, who had not retired for the evening, was a young woman of about eighteen with bright green eyes, short brown hair in a messy crop on her head and was dressed in a kind of dark pinkish dress underneath her small white coat. She was sitting on a small boat out in the harbour of the kingdom, looking out across the still, black water at the kingdom that was her home and at the large shadows that were parked ships resting like giant beasts in the harbour, partially silhouetted by the darkness approaching them.

Her name was Rapunzel. She was the princess of the king and queen of Corona and had only recently returned after being freed from her Mother Gothel, who had kept her in a tower far from the kingdom and had used her hair, which had been blonde and over seventy feet long, to keep her young as it contained a magical power that had been passed from her real mother, the queen, to her when she had been born. For eighteen years, she had been virtually kept hidden from the outside world by Mother Gothel until help came in a very unusual form.

That help had been a thief called Eugene Fitzherbert, or Flynn Rider as he had preferred to be called. He had just happened to find his way into the tower Rapunzel was locked in and had helped her leave and taken her to the kingdom to see the floating lanterns, which were launched every year on Rapunzel's birthday, the two even taking part in the ceremony itself. Afterwards, they had grown very close to each other and they had finally declared their love when Eugene had saved her from the tower, almost dying in the process, and brought her back to the kingdom and reunited her with her parents.

That had been last year in the later part of the summer. Now, about six months on, they were still madly in love with one another and neither wanted to let the other go, not after all they had done for each other and how they had risked their lives and went on probably the most amazing adventure they had, and probably would ever see in their lives.

However, at this present moment in time, Rapunzel was beginning to get concerned about Eugene. As she sat in the boat, her eyes gazing up and down across the lake that surrounded the kingdom, watching the reflection of the kingdom and the lights in the windows slowly ripple on the surface of the water, she sighed and folded her arms on the side of the boat, wondering where he was.

_He was supposed to meet me here a while ago now _she mentally said to herself.

Where was he? He had promised to meet her out here on the lake, but that had been about half an hour ago. For the first ten minutes, she waited by the docks in the freezing cold, thinking he would meet here there. When he did not turn up, she thought he would be out on the lake so she hoped into a spare boat and rowed herself out into it, warming herself up from the exercise of the rowing. Still though, after twenty minutes of waiting in the freezing cold, which was beginning to return to her after the warmness she had brought into her body from rowing out across the lake had begun to ebb away, he was still not here.

Though she did not really believe this, and the truth was she did not even know why she was thinking this, but she had this little thought stuck in the back of her mind that said to her he was gone. Not the gone as in gone from this world, but gone as in he had left the kingdom. A little hint of fear did reach her then as she looked down at her reflection in the water, seeing the slightly worried expression in her green eyes. That was something she feared the most, even more than him dying because if he was alive but was no longer here, it would only strike the utmost of fear and sadness into her.

Even though she did not know a lot about criminals, especially thieves, she had learnt from the little time she had been with Eugene that a thief does not spend a lot of time in the same place, only until they had taken enough for them to sell later on or there was nothing for them to take in where they were and they would move on to another place. That was just the nature of a thief and that had been Eugene's nature until he had met Rapunzel, but even though he had put all of that behind him now and turned things around, she still felt that he _might_, and she did emphasize on the thought might, go one day and never return. Thought it did sound absolutely ridiculous, things that were almost never going to happen _had_ happened before so there was not really anything stopping it from actually happening if it did.

Sighing again, Rapunzel looked back up at the kingdom as if trying to see if he was coming to her from it. She could imagine it right now. Him coming across in a small rowboat and finally meeting her out here on the lake. Though after that, she did not know what would happen because he did not tell her why they were meeting out here.

As she looked at the castle that towered over the city below, she began to gently sing to herself.

"_Flynn Rider, where have you gone?"_

"_I fear for a day when we have to say 'so long'," _

It was true. Even though it was almost impossible for it to happen, Rapunzel always feared for a day when Eugene might one day leave. After all, the nature of a thief would never leave him no matter what, or at least that was what she had told herself. Maybe she was over-exaggerating on something like that, but she just could not imagine life without him. It would almost make her life no longer worth living.

Looking back down at the water, she saw her reflection staring back at her as if it was a kind of parallel universe. As she reached her hand out and touched the water, her reflection doing the same as if they were trying to reach out for each other, the water shifting a little as the ripples caused by her hand touching the coldness of the water spreading out across the surface of the lake, she continued to sing.

"_I don't want you to leave, please will you stay?"_

_"You make my problems go away,"_

She always stuck by that as well. He had been there for her when she had wanted to leave her tower and he had been there for her since. He had always cheered her up when she was sad or made her laugh if she was angry and they always had great time just being with one another. It was as if every time they were together, it would feel like the best moment of her life.

"_You're my one true love,"_

"_My one true love," _

As she withdrew her hand from the water, she sighed at her reflection as the lake where she her hand had touched began to settle. Her fingers felt a little numb now that she had touched the water. She looked up at the castle, still wondering where he was. He had to be here but for some reason, he was not. He had said he would meet her out here, but he had not. Annoyance seeped into her. She was waiting out here for nothing!

What if…? What if that thought in her mind was true? What if…he…he had gone? No. No, that had not happened! He was still here and they were going to meet! But…but they had not when he said they would. Panic began to fill Rapunzel like water filling up a tank. She grabbed the oars, determined to get back to the castle quickly to find out where Eugene was. Maybe someone there knew where he was.

_"Rapunzel, don't worry, I'm right here,"_

She froze where she was, the oar in her hand stopping just millimeters above the water as if it had just stopped in time from making a decision to leave this place. That voice. She knew it very well, but was she hearing things? Slowly, she turned and looked behind her to see another boat just a few feet from hers. Someone was standing there.

It was a man with short brown hair and a small beard and light brown eyes. He was dressed in dark cream coloured trousers, a white top and a thick green coat over him. On the floor of his boat was a grey blanket covering something. He smiled at Rapunzel when she turned to see him and opened his arms wide to her.

_"Come so I can hold you dear,"_

As if replying to him, Rapunzel gave a relieved laugh and jumped off her boat into his and embraced him tightly, he embracing her as well.

"Sorry if I'm a little late," he said apologetically to her she looked up at him.

"I was wondering where you were," she replied in a fake annoyed voice, which he saw through by the smile on her face.

"Yeah, sorry. I forgot something,"

They sat down on their knees in front of each other, Eugene placing a hand on her soft cheek.

_"You're like a sun that I've never seen,"_

_"Nothing is more beautiful like you've always been,"_

She blushed a little when he said this, but it was true. To Eugene, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, both inside and out. She was good-looking, smart, funny, caring and just…an enjoyment to be around. He could imagine his life without her, or even his life before he had met her.

"_Your my one true love,"_

_"My one true love,"_

Rapunzel smiled at him and embraced him tightly. "Very beautiful, Eugene," she said to him.

"Same with yours," he replied.

She withdrew from him. "What, you heard me singing?" she asked, a little shocked. "Why didn't you come over?"

"Well, I wanted to hear your voice," he replied. "And plus, I thought it was good to make a grand entrance,"

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Oh, Eugene," she said admiringly. It was then her eyes rested on the blanket on the floor of the boat behind him. "What's that?" she asked questionably, nodding towards the blanket.

He smiled at her. "It's what I was looking for and so the reason why I'm late," he told her. "But…you'll love it,"

Reaching behind him, he pulled the blanket off the object it was covering and grabbed the object and held it up to Rapunzel. Her eyes lit up when she saw it. It was red and heart shaped with a small hole in the top. The bottom of the heart was a circular shape and was holding a candle directly below the hole at the top of the heart. It was a lantern!

"Wow, Eugene!" she said happily. "It's perfect!"

He nodded. "Now let's light it," he said and he took out a small box of matches and took one out. He lit it and, being careful so as not to set the lantern alight, he moved the flame under the hole on the bottom of the heart shaped lantern and lit the candle. At once, the heart came to life with a bright red glow. Eugene lowered his hand from the inside of the lantern and tossed the match into the lake, the flame going out instantly.

Well, that explained the special lanterns and the red glow from Corona.

"It's beautiful," Rapunzel said softly.

"It was the last one I could find," Eugene replied. They looked back across the lake at Corona, taking the in the glow from the castle and the city below it that was their home. Then, slowly, they gently let go of the lantern and it hovered into the air, lighting up the now mostly dark sky that was beginning to fill with stars as if it were a kind of ray of hope for the world to not lose itself to the darkness and that light would return again.

Watching it go, the two in the boat looked back into each other's eyes, their love for each burning brightly like the lantern they had just released. Together, like they had done before when they had come out here to watch the lantern's on Rapunzel's birthday, they began to sing.

_"Our love and passion is never down,"_

_"One can smile if the other can frown,"_

_"We'll always be here for each other,"_

_"Together, nothing's a bother,"_

_"We're each other's one true love,"_

_"One true love,"_

Their singing summed up how much they loved each other. No matter what, they would always be there for each other. They would be there to cheer each other up, to spend time with, but, most importantly, to make each other feel like they had a purpose in life.

Eugene smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rapunzel,"

She smiled in return. "Happy Valentine's Day, Eugene," and they embraced tightly as Rapunzel planted a kiss on his lips.

_Looks like my view on a thief was wrong _Rapunzel mentally said to herself.

For what seemed like hours, the two sat in the boat, embraced by one another, letting time flow over them. Above them, the stars began to slowly overtake the sky as the night pushed off the last bit of daylight. It was a beautiful scene for two lovers. The perfect romantic scene.

After a moment, the two let go of each other. "Well, we better get going," Eugene said.

Rapunzel nodded. "Yeah, It's getting late," she picked up the oar next to them, quickly realising something. "Hey wait, what about the other boat?" she asked.

The two looked back at the other boat, which was a few feet from their snow as it had drifted off a little. They were going to have to take that one back with them as well. They could not leave it out here.

"Oh, yeah," Eugene said. "Well, I'll get in that one and we'll row back together," he told her.

"Okay," Rapunzel replied.

He stood up and stepped over to the edge of the boat, bending his knees a little as he prepared to jump.

"Be careful, won't you," Rapunzel said to him.

"Don't worry, Rapunzel, I will," he reassured her.

Breathing in and adjusting himself, he jumped towards the other boat.

SPLASH! The boats rocked slightly as the ripples from where Eugene had landed in the water swept across the surface of the lake.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel exclaimed, rushing to the side of the boat and looking at the murky darkness, searching for her lover, her green eyes scanning every bit of it. Where was he?

Then, a figure shot up from under the water with a sharp breath. It was Eugene.

"C-c-c-c-co-cold!" he whispered as the coldness from the water overwhelmed his body, his teeth chattering away like mad and his hands slammed against his body so hard they would probably freeze into place there.

"Here, take my hand," Rapunzel said, holding out her hand to him.

Kicking his legs as hard as he could, which was hard as they felt very numb, he managed to reach her and he took her hand and grabbed hold of the side of the boat with his other hand. With all his remaining strength and Rapunzel using all of hers, they hoisted Eugene into the boat, making it rock as he landed with a thud. He immediately grabbed his body and grasped it tightly, breathing quickly as he tried to comprehend with the sudden drop in his body temperature caused by the fall.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Y-y-y-ye-y-yeah!" he replied in a rasping voice.

He moved over to the end of the boat and grabbed the blanket and threw it over himself. Rapunzel, despite seeing him end up soaking wet and freezing cold, could not help but giggle a little.

"Well, that was eventful," she said with a small giggle.

Eugene shot her a little glare and went to saw something but upon seeing her giggle, he just sighed and laughed a little with her.

"Y-yeah, I-I-I g-guess it w-w-was," he replied, pulling the blanket over him to try and keep himself warm.

Rapunzel picked up the oar and rowed over to the other boat and grabbed it and pulled it over to the side of theirs. "D'you think you'll be able to hold onto it?" she asked him.

He nodded slightly, still shaking madly and moved over to the edge of the boat and grabbed it with his shaking hand and held it tightly. Using the oar, Rapunzel began to row them back towards Corona.

It was an eventful and unfortunate Valentine's Day night for the two, but it was a beautiful one as well. One which neither of them would forget.

**Happy Valentine's Day everyone. **


End file.
